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Food and Drink

A Book of Quotations

Dover Publications, Inc.

BREAKFAST, LUNCH, AND DINNER

When my mother had to get dinner for 8 she'd just make enough for 16 and only serve half.

GRACIE ALLEN

* * *

Never work before breakfast; if you have to work before breakfast, eat your breakfast first.

JOSH BILLINGS

* * *

In due time the tea was spread forth in handsome style; and neither ham, tarts, nor marmalade were wanting among its accompaniments.

CHARLOTTE BRONTË

* * *

A good breakfast is no substitute for a large dinner.

When going to an eating house, go to one that is filled with customers.

CHINESE PROVERB

* * *

Eat breakfast like a king, lunch like a prince, and dinner like a pauper.

ADELLE DAVIS

One can say everything best over a meal.

GEORGE ELIOT

* * *

We should look for someone to eat and drink with before looking for something to eat and drink, for dining alone is leading the life of a lion or wolf.

EPICURUS

* * *

He that waits upon fortune, is never sure of a dinner.

BENJAMIN FRANKLIN

* * *

It isn't so much what's on the table that matters, as what's on the chairs.

W. S. GILBERT

* * *

All happiness depends on a leisurely breakfast.

JOHN GUNTHER

* * *

Life, within doors, has few pleasanter prospects than a neatly arranged and well-provisioned breakfast table.

NATHANIEL HAWTHORNE

* * *

The kind man feeds his cat before sitting down to dinner.

HEBREW PROVERB

* * *

Nearly everyone wants at least one outstanding meal a day.

DUNCAN HINES

The American does not drink at meals as a sensible man should. Indeed, he has no meals. He stuffs for ten minutes thrice a day.

RUDYARD KIPLING

* * *

Oh, the pleasure of eating my dinner alone!

CHARLES LAMB

* * *

The dinner table is the center for the teaching and practicing not just of table manners but of conversation, consideration, tolerance, family feeling, and just about all the other accomplishments of polite society except the minuet.

JUDITH MARTIN, "MISS MANNERS"

* * *

Dinner, a time when ... one should eat wisely but not too well, and talk well but not too wisely.

W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM

* * *

They sat down to tables that well might have groaned, even howled, such was the weight that they carried.

MARTHA McCULLOCH-WILLIAMS

* * *

There are a lot of people who must have the table laid in the usual fashion or they will not enjoy the dinner.

CHRISTOPHER MORLEY

* * *

The golden rule when reading the menu is, if you cannot pronounce it, you cannot afford it.

FRANK MUIR

Dinnertime is the most wonderful period of the day and perhaps its goal—the blossoming of the day. Breakfast is the bud.

NOVALIS

* * *

Strange to see how a good dinner and feasting reconciles everybody.

SAMUEL PEPYS

* * *

Great restaurants are, of course, nothing but mouth-brothels.

FREDERIC RAPHAEL

* * *

Sit down and feed, and welcome to our table.

Unquiet meals make ill digestions.

And men sit down to that nourishment which is called supper.

WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE

* * *

The hour of dinner includes everything of sensual and intellectual gratification which a great nation glories in producing.

SYDNEY SMITH

* * *

A clear soup, a bit of fish, a couple of little entrées and a nice little roast. That's my kind of a dinner.

WILLIAM MAKEPEACE THACKERAY

* * *

They take great pride in making their dinner cost much; I take my pride in making my dinner cost little.

I sat at a table where were rich food and wine in abundance, and obsequious attendance, but sincerity and truth were not; and I went away hungry from the inhospitable board.

HENRY DAVID THOREAU

* * *

I went to dinner, which was served in a small private room of the club with the usual piano and fiddlers present to make conversation difficult and comfort impossible.

MARK TWAIN

* * *

My doctor told me to stop having intimate dinners for four. Unless there are three other people.

ORSON WELLES

* * *

Never argue at the dinner table, for the one who is not hungry gets the best of the argument.

RICHARD WHATELY

* * *

One cannot think well, love well, sleep well, if one has not dined well.

VIRGINIA WOOLF

* * *

Dining is and always was a great artistic opportunity.

FRANK LLOYD WRIGHT

COFFEE, TEA, AND OTHER BEVERAGES

Without my morning coffee I'm just like a dried up piece of roast goat.

JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH

Coffee falls into the stomach [and] ideas begin to move, things remembered arrive at full gallop [and] the shafts of wit start up like sharp-shooters, similes arrive, the paper is covered with ink.

HONORÉ DE BALZAC

* * *

No coffee can be good in the mouth that does not first send a sweet offering of odor to the nostrils.

HENRY WARD BEECHER

* * *

POTABLE, n. Suitable for drinking. Water is said to be potable; indeed, some declare it our natural beverage, although even they find it palatable only when suffering from the recurrent disorder known as thirst, for which it is a medicine.

AMBROSE BIERCE

* * *

The best wine is the oldest, the best water the newest.

WILLIAM BLAKE

* * *

Never accept a drink from a urologist.

ERMA BOMBECK

* * *

There isn't enough coffee in the United States to keep everyone awake during a Presidential election campaign.

DONALD W. BROWN

* * *

There are various theories as to what characteristics, what combination of traits, what qualities in our men won [World War II] ... but, speaking from my own observation of our armed forces, I should say the war was won on coffee.

ILKA CHASE

Better to be deprived of food for three days, than tea for one.

CHINESE PROVERB

* * *

Never drink black coffee at lunch; it will keep you awake in the afternoon.

JILLY COOPER

* * *

Coffee has two virtues: It is wet and warm.

DUTCH PROVERB

* * *

Iced tea is too pure and natural a creation not to have been invented as soon as tea, ice, and hot weather crossed paths.

JOHN EGERTON

* * *

These angry zombies were rushing to work, and their eyes flashed fair warning: Don't mess with us. We haven't had our coffee.

JOAN FRANK

* * *

Coffee in England is just toasted milk.

CHRISTOPHER FRY

* * *

Coffee was a food in that house, not a drink.

PATRICIA HAMPL

* * *

The morning cup of coffee has an exhilaration about it which the cheering influence of the afternoon or evening cup of tea cannot be expected to reproduce.

OLIVER WENDELL HOLMES

No matter how much strong coffee we drink, almost any after-dinner speech will counteract it.

KIN HUBBARD

* * *

I judge a restaurant by the bread and by the coffee.

BURT LANCASTER

* * *

If this is coffee, please bring me some tea; but if this is tea, please bring me some coffee.

ABRAHAM LINCOLN

* * *

The coffee was so strong it snarled as it lurched out of the pot.

BETTY MACDONALD

* * *

Good to the last drop.

TEDDY ROOSEVELT

* * *

Vodka is cursed, tea is twice cursed, coffee and tobacco are thrice cursed.

RUSSIAN PROVERB

* * *

Why do they always put mud into coffee on board steamers? Why does the tea generally taste of boiled boots?

WILLIAM MAKEPEACE THACKERAY

* * *

Water is the only drink for a wise man.

HENRY DAVID THOREAU

Coffee should be black as hell, strong as death, sweet as love.

TURKISH PROVERB

* * *

It is inferior for coffee, but it is a pretty fair tea.

MARK TWAIN

* * *

Tea to the English is really a picnic indoors.

ALICE WALKER

* * *

And, upon my word, the very thing my soul was longing for—a cup of coffee!

MRS. HUMPHRY WARD

* * *

Tea tempers the spirit, harmonizes the mind, dispels lassitude and relieves fatigue, awakens the thought and prevents drowsiness.

LU YU

WINE, SPIRITS, AND DRINKING

One reason why I don't drink is because I wish to know when I'm having a good time.

NANCY ASTOR

* * *

The best audience is one that is intelligent, well-educated-and a little drunk.

ALBEN W. BARKLEY

Drinking makes such fools of people, and people are such fools to begin with, that it's compounding a felony.

ROBERT BENCHLEY

* * *

A man hath no better thing under the sun, than to eat, and to drink, and to be merry.

THE BIBLE (ECCLESIASTES 8:15)

* * *

TEETOTALER, n. One who abstains from strong drink, sometimes totally, sometimes tolerably totally.

AMBROSE BIERCE

* * *

When you stop drinking, you have to deal with this marvelous personality that started you drinking in the first place.

JIMMY BRESLIN

* * *

Alcohol is the prince of liquids and carries the palate to its highest pitch of exaltation.

* * *

A meal without wine is like a day without sunshine.

* * *

Burgundy makes you think of silly things; Bordeaux makes you talk about them, and Champagne makes you do them.

ANTHELMIE BRILLAT-SAVARIN

* * *

Then trust me, there's nothing like drinking
So pleasant on this side the grave;
It keeps the unhappy from thinking,
And makes e'en the valiant more brave.

CHARLES DIBDIN

Alcohol is necessary for a man so that he can have a good opinion of himself, undisturbed by the facts.

FINLEY PETER DUNNE

* * *

God made yeast, as well as dough, and loves fermentation just as dearly as he loves vegetation.

* * *

A man will be eloquent if you give him good wine.

* * *

There is this to be said in favor of drinking, that it takes the drunkard first out of society, then out of the world.

RALPH WALDO EMERSON

* * *

Temperance is the control of all the functions of our bodies. The man who refuses liquor, goes in for apple pie and develops a paunch, is no ethical leader for me.

JOHN ERSKINE

* * *

How gracious those dews of solace that over my senses fall At the clink of the ice in the pitcher the boy brings up the hall.

EUGENE FIELD

* * *

Reminds me of my safari in Africa. Somebody forgot the corkscrew and for several days we had to live on nothing but food and water.

* * *

I never drink water. I'm afraid it will become habit-forming.

W. C. FIELDS

* * *

First you take a drink, then the drink takes a drink, then the drink takes you.

F. SCOTT FITZGERALD

Take counsel in wine, but resolve afterwards in water.

He that drinks fast, pays slow.

BENJAMIN FRANKLIN

* * *

Wine is earth's answer to the sun.

MARGARET FULLER

* * *

Wine is sunlight, held together by water.

GALILEO GALILEI

* * *

If wine tells truth—and so have said the wise,—
It makes me laugh to think how brandy lies!

OLIVER WENDELL HOLMES

* * *

Nothing ever tasted better than a cold beer on a beautiful afternoon with nothing to look forward to but more of the same.

HUGH HOOD

* * *

For it's always fair weather When good fellows get together, With a stein on the table and a good song ringing clear.

RICHARD HOVEY

* * *

Wine: An infallible antidote to commonsense and seriousness; an excuse for deeds otherwise unforgivable.

ELBERT HUBBARD

Those who drink beer will think beer.

WASHINGTON IRVING

* * *

I like liquor—its taste and its effects—and that is just the reason why I never drink it.

STONEWALL JACKSON

* * *

We drink one another's health and spoil our own.

JEROME K. JEROME

* * *

Wine gives great pleasure, and every pleasure is of itself a good.

SAMUEL JOHNSON

* * *

Even though a number of people have tried, no one has yet found a way to drink for a living.

JEAN KERR

* * *

Drink! for you know not whence you came nor why:
Drink! for you know not why you go, nor where.

OMAR KHAYYAM

* * *

The telephone is a good way to talk to people without having to offer them a drink.

FRAN LEBOWITZ

* * *

Only Irish coffee provides in a single glass all four essential food groups: alcohol, caffeine, sugar, and fat.

ALEX LEVINE

When you ask one friend to dine,
Give him your best wine!
When you ask two,
The second best will do!

HENRY WADSWORTH LONGFELLOW

* * *

I've made it a rule never to drink by daylight and never to refuse a drink after dark.

H. L. MENCKEN

* * *

One more drink and I'll be under the host.

DOROTHY PARKER

* * *

Wine is the most healthful and most hygienic of beverages.

LOUIS PASTEUR

* * *

There are two reasons for drinking; one is, when you are thirsty, to cure it; the other, when you are not thirsty, to prevent it ... Prevention is better than cure.

THOMAS LOVE PEACOCK

* * *

Come quickly, I am tasting stars!

DOM PERIGNON, on his discovery of champagne

* * *

In vino veritas. (In wine there is truth.)

PLINY THE ELDER

Alcohol is a good preservative for everything but brains.

MARY PETTIBONE POOLE

* * *

There are more old drunkards than old physicians.

FRANCOIS RABELAIS

* * *

Alcohol is the anesthesia by which we endure the operation of life.

GEORGE BERNARD SHAW

* * *

Wine is bottled poetry.

ROBERT LOUIS STEVENSON

* * *

An alcoholic is someone you don't like who drinks as much as you do.

DYLAN THOMAS

* * *

Sometimes too much to drink is barely enough.

MARK TWAIN

* * *

It was my Uncle George who discovered that alcohol was a food well in advance of modern medical thought.

P. G. WODEHOUSE

* * *

My grandmother is over eighty and still doesn't need glasses. Drinks right out of the bottle.

When I read about the evils of drinking, I gave up reading.

HENNY YOUNGMAN

COOKING

The fact is that it takes more than ingredients and technique to cook a good meal. A good cook puts something of himself into the preparation—he cooks with enjoyment, anticipation, spontaneity, and he is willing to experiment.

PEARL BAILEY

* * *

When compelled to cook, I produce a meal that would make a sword swallower gag.

RUSSELL BAKER

* * *

A gourmet who thinks of calories is like a tart who looks at her watch.

* * *

I don't like gourmet cooking or "this" cooking or "that" cooking. I like "good" cooking.

When I come home to my kitchen, I realize it is there that I can best satisfy the eccentricities of my own palate.

JAMES BEARD

* * *

I feel a recipe is only a theme, which an intelligent cook can play each time with a variation.

MADAME JEHANE BENOIT

* * *

Another cannot make fit to eat without wine or brandy. A third must have brandy on her apple dumplings, and a fourth comes out boldly and says she likes to drink once in a while herself too well. What flimsy excuses these! brandy and apple dumplings forsooth! That lady must be a wretched cook indeed who cannot make apple dumplings, mince pie, or cake palatable without the addition of poisonous substances.

AMELIA JENKS BLOOMER

Cookery is not chemistry. It is an art. It requires instinct and taste rather than exact measurements.

MARCEL BOULESTIN

* * *

Anyone who eats three meals a day should understand why cookbooks outsell sex books three to one.

L. M. BOYD

* * *

The discovery of a new dish does more for human happiness than the discovery of a new star.

Poultry is for the cook what canvas is for the painter.

ANTHELME BRILLAT-SAVARIN

* * *

Tomatoes and oregano make it Italian; wine and tarragon make it French. Sour cream makes it Russian; lemon and cinnamon make it Greek. Soy sauce makes it Chinese; garlic makes it good.

ALICE MAY BROCK

* * *

I don't even butter my bread. I consider that cooking.

KATHERINE CEBRIAN

* * *

Music with dinner is an insult both to the cook and to the violinist.

G. K. CHESTERTON

* * *

Too many cooks may spoil the broth, but it only takes one to burn it.

I was 32 when I started cooking; up until then, I just ate.

On nouvelle cuisine:

It's so beautifully arranged on the plate—you know someone's fingers have been all over it.

Non-cooks think it's silly to invest two hours' work in two minutes' enjoyment, but if cooking is evanescent, well, so is the ballet.

JULIA CHILD

* * *

Sour, sweet, bitter, pungent—all must be tasted.

CHINESE PROVERB

* * *

When she goes about her kitchen duties, chopping, carving, mixing, whisking, she moves with the grace and precision of a ballet dancer, her fingers plying the food with the dexterity of a croupier.

Cooking is at once child's play and adult joy. And cooking done with care is an act of love.

CRAIG CLAIBORNE

* * *

As he chops, cuts, slices, trims, shapes, or threads through the string, a butcher is as good a sight to watch as a dancer or a mime.

COLETTE

* * *

Life is too short to stuff a mushroom.

SHIRLEY CONRAN

Salt is the policeman of taste: it keeps the various flavors of a dish in order, and restrains the stronger from tyrannizing over the weaker.

MALCOLM DE CHAZAL

* * *

It does not matter whether one paints a picture, writes a poem, or carves a statue, simplicity is the mark of a master-hand. Don't run away with the idea that it is easy to cook simply. It requires a long apprenticeship.

ELSIE DE WOLFE

* * *

Progress in civilization has been accompanied by progress in cookery.

FANNIE FARMER

* * *

A watched pot never boils.

ELIZABETH GASKELL

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Excerpted from Food and Drink by SUSAN L. RATTINER. Copyright © 2002 Dover Publications, Inc.. Excerpted by permission of Dover Publications, Inc..
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